FROM OUR ARCHIVES
50 YEARS AGO
December 13, 1967
In an address to the Rafi Party convention in Jerusalem, defense minister Moshe Dayan outlined his views pertaining to war and peace. He came out strongly in favor of public discussions of Israel’s future plans. “This is not a matter of foreign policy, but something that concerns the very future and existence of the State of Israel and the Jewish people, and which will not be decided only at the conference table by foreign ministry officials,” he stated. He took issue with those who coined the phrase “Peace in exchange for the return of territories,” stressing that no such proposal existed. What was being offered Israel was “withdrawal without peace,” he said. Taking issue with an earlier article by labor minister Yigal Allon, Dayan declared that Israel had no intention of conquering Arab territories during the Six Day War. “Indeed, we did not want to capture all of southern Syria and free the Druse people. We only wanted cease-fire lines that would give us maximum security.” He said that the government’s policy of not wanting to dominate the Arabs had brought beneficial results during the six months since the June war. To prove his point he said that there were 4,600 Arab educational employees in the Israeli-held territories, and only nine Jews. The same was true in the fields of health and agriculture. He also noted that all of the prewar Arab mayors remained in office.
25 YEARS AGO
December 13, 1992
A spate of protest from the public about the recurrent pandemonium in recent Knesset sessions, and the desire of some MKs to stop it, would be addressed during the week in urgent motions for the agenda. Former MK and Histadrut leader Yitzhak Ben-Aharon wrote to Knesset Speaker Shevah Weiss about the general revulsion among citizens over the abuse and vulgarity exchanged during plenum sessions. Weiss called on all faction chairmen to pull together to preserve the dignity of the parliament. Deputy speaker Anat Maor (Meretz) urged that the Moledet MKs should be seated as far away as possible from MKs of the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality and the Arab Democratic Party, to reduce friction.
15 YEARS AGO
December 13, 2002
US undersecretary of defense Douglas Feith told Israeli leaders in Jerusalem that blanket statements about what Israel would do if attacked by Saddam Hussein were unproductive since Saddam needed to be kept guessing about the range of possible military responses. “Everyone recognizes the value of Saddam being uncertain of the possibilities of what will happen if attacked. No one has any intention of reducing that uncertainty,” he said. Both prime minister Ariel Sharon and defense minister Shaul Mofaz met with senior US officials who left them with the impression that the attack on Iraq was not necessarily a foregone conclusion. During those meetings, the Israelis warned the US not to expect a short, bloodless war, but rather a painful campaign that would necessitate deploying troops in Baghdad. One Israeli official said the US “road map” for resuming a diplomatic process should be pushed off until after the US campaign against Iraq, since the fall of Saddam would have dramatic ramifications for the whole region.